A group of Democratic senators has introduced companion legislation in the Senate to place “an immediate and indefinite moratorium on acquisitions and mergers in the food and agriculture sector.”
Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Jon Tester (D-MT) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) introduced the Food and Agribusiness Merger Moratorium and Antitrust Review Act of 2022 to improve merger enforcements and antitrust oversight in the farm and food sectors, according to the lawmakers.
The bill would also create a commission to study and publish recommended improvements to merger enforcement and antitrust oversight in the farm and food sectors. The moratorium would be lifted once Congress uses the commission’s recommendations to pass legislation to address the issue of growing market concentration in the agriculture sector.
“The agriculture and food industries are highly concentrated, with only a few dominant players controlling a majority of the market,” Warren said. “It’s time to stop mergers that hurt workers and that enable the corporate price gouging that’s leading to higher costs for American families—this bill would help us do just that.”
The bill has the support of several nongovernmental organizations, as well as the Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund, United Stockgrowers of America (R-CALF USA).
“The ongoing concentration of our agriculture and food markets is allowing dominant agribusiness firms to exploit farmers and ranchers on one end of the supply chain and consumers on the other,” said R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard.
“We applaud Sens. Booker and Tester for reintroducing this bill that protects food producers and food eaters from further harm and establishes a mechanism to begin reversing that harm.”
Companion legislation was introduced in the House of Representatives by Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI-02). — Anna Miller,WLJ managing editor
